Sam North knows books from many angles - as a novelist, as a writer about how to write, as a scriptwriter, and as a literary agent specialising in television documentaries and dramas.

North came to writing via a circuitous route: before publishing his first novel at 29, he worked as a groom, a runner on film sets, a participant in fight sequences for pop videos, a motorcycle messenger, and a jobbing builder. Alongside his writing, he became a director of the AP Watt literary agency in charge of film rights and is currently an associate professor at Exeter University. His fascination for the work of the documentary photographer Robert Frank, about whom he made a film for Arena, can be felt in the gritty imagery of The Unnumbered.   

Sam North

All nominated books

The Unnumbered